The federal government has launched a five-year strategy to end child marriage in Nigeria by 2030. The plan is expected to cost N140.8bn.
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development unveiled the National Strategy and Costed Action Plan on Ending Child Marriage in Nigeria (2025–2030) in Kano. The Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs and UNICEF partnered on the launch.
Women Affairs Minister Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim said the strategy turns the government’s pledge to protect girls into action, funding and measurable results. Success, she said, will show in higher school retention for girls, communities abandoning harmful practices and fewer child marriages.
How the Plan Will Be Funded
The ministry’s Director of Economic Services, Musa Aliyu Musa, presented the financial framework. The plan needs N140.802bn over five years. The federal government is to provide 60 per cent, while development partners and other stakeholders will cover the remaining 40 per cent.
He said the earlier national strategy, launched in 2014, had no costed action plan. That made implementation hard. The new framework sets out funding needs, institutional roles and monitoring mechanisms.
Minister Calls for Coordinated Action
Sulaiman-Ibrahim urged federal and state governments to build the strategy into their policies and budgets. She called for joint action across education, healthcare, social protection and child protection institutions.
She named poverty, insecurity, school exclusion, gender discrimination and harmful traditional practices as key drivers of child marriage. She also asked for stronger enforcement of child protection laws and better access to education and welfare services for girls at risk.
The minister praised Kano State for its scholarship programmes, free bus transport for girls and re-entry guidelines for married adolescent girls.
UNICEF Cites Survey Figures
UNICEF’s Kano Field Office Chief, Mr Shafeeq Ur-Rehman, cited the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. It shows that 33.4 per cent of young women nationwide married before age 18.
Rates are higher in the North-West and North-East. Bauchi recorded 74 per cent, Jigawa 72 per cent, Katsina 69 per cent and Kano 39 per cent. He urged state governments to turn the strategy into funded programmes and stronger protection services.
Kano’s Commissioner for Women Affairs, Children and Persons with Special Needs, Hajiya Amina Abdullahi, reaffirmed the state’s commitment. She cited the AGILE Project, the Girl Child Initiative and free and compulsory education.
